Examples

I had been taught that “itis” at the end of a word signified some kind of inflammation and I was exposed to the insight that “gastr” was supposed to make you think about stomachs; so I creatively surmised correctly that the word “gastritis” might well relate to inflammation of the stomach.

In his book The Peace Process, William Quant traces American-led negotiations from the mid-1970s when the term signified a "gradual, step-by-step approach to resolving one of the world's most difficult conflicts."

In his book "The Peace Process," William Quant traces American-led negotiations from the mid-1970s when the term signified a "gradual, step-by-step approach to resolving one of the world's most difficult conflicts."

This shifting relationship between the word and the idea, between the signifier and the signified is the reason for the "doubtfulness and uncertainty of their [words '] signification" (III. ix.4, p. 479), and Locke is explicit as to what he thinks of those who exploit this shifting relationship: "'tis plain cheat and abuse, when I make them [words] stand sometimes for one thing and sometimes for another" (III. x.5, p. 492).

The cacophony would be excusable if the barbarous term signified nothing but the creature signified; but as a rule this name possesses, hidden in its Greek or other roots, a certain meaning in which the novice hopes to find instruction.